His name is Stewart Parnell, he owns the Peanut Corporation of America, the company linked to 8 deaths and hundreds of sickened people due to contaminated peanut products. Internal communications released in a House hearing today say that he ordered tainted products to be sold, even after confirmation of Salmonella. He even dropped a lab because they kept having too many pesky salmonella positives. (Ok, I editorialized there a bit.)
He took the 5th at the hearing today, which is of course, his right. What I don’t understand is that there is certainly enough evidence to show he knowingly contaminated the food supply…played Russian Roulette with peanut butter crackers, so to speak…In fact, the Feds got the internal documents by using an Anti Bio-terrorism law, to get the warrant. You can read about it here:
He isn’t in jail yet because he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Why he has not yet been charged with a few statutory violations, now that’s a good question. But the answer in law is often " because he has really good attorneys".
Ok, let me rephrase, why hasn’t he been arrested and charged? There is certainly enough evidence that he knew what was going on…that he ordered the product shipped even though he knew it was tainted. The incriminating emails come from him, so that “His subordinates did it without him,” doesn’t fly. There is certainly enough here for an indictment.
I have to say I’m appalled at the seeming lack of interest in this case, given that peanut butter paste produced in his plant is probably in the clif bars, power bars etc, that are consumed in pretty good quantities by the people on this board. Better check the recall notice for that stuff in your pantry. Our contaminated food supply isn’t sexy enough, I guess.
Cause he was at the top…and did not know all of the actions of all of those under him. But, we shall convict him for the failures of others.
Being at the top used to make you invincible, not anymore. Banks, hedge funds, Ceo’s are all in the spotlight and being take down one by one.
Law School: love it! Have no time, no life, but absolutely love it. Big fan of the law. Training hours have suffered a bit ( a lot), but I am compensating by doing more intensity based work, which has shown great results.
I have to say… I hate the “presumed innocent until proven guilty” line. The whole line is born from the legal burden imposed on the prosecution, that it must prove guilt, as opposed to the defendant proving himself innocent. I don’t know why, but it just irks me when I hear it.
This guy probably does have a whole army of attorneys behind him, but I would imagine its only a matter of time before charges of some type are filed. When you’ve got a high profile case like this, its helpful to get all your ducks in a row before filing. It looks better in the eye of public opinion.
Interestingly enough, in China, actions like this might be enough to have this guy put to death. Here, I would imagine any charges for reckless endangerment/depraved heart murder/involuntary manslaughter might be hard to stick to the guy. To prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his actions led to the death of any of these persons is going to be pretty tough. The illnesses might be a different story just because of the sheer number. The families have a much better shot at prevailing on a civil lawsuit where he burden of proof is much lower.
Either way, I hope this guy, in his personal capacity, has to pay bigtime. I would hate for this one idiot’s (and his minion’s) actions to force the shutdown of this company and cost hundreds or thousands of people thier jobs. Unfortunately, thats just the way the system works.
Civil. Primarlily employment and employment related matters like breach of contract, defamation involved with a termination, etc. I also do Florida workers’ comp. I recently moved back to my hometown in VA and am taking the VA bar in 11 days. I still do work in Tallahassee for a few firms on a consulting and case-by-case basis. I actually do work for firms I used to practice against.
What law school are you attending, Alabama? When do you graduate? I graduated from FSU in 2006. I know that you used to live in the Gainesville area, and I think you and I did the same race back in 2004. It was some rinky dink race in Orlando, but actually pretty well run. Maybe the Belle Isle Triathlon? Something like that, it was in Oct or Sept. I remember that it was a fast course and they had the most god awful shirts I’ve ever seen. It was clip art characters playing with a beach ball.
You are right, I do go to Alabama Law. I will be done May 2011.
I was actually down in Gainesville for a training camp over break, had a great 3 week block down there. I really miss that place. I do remember the Belle Isle races - the shirts were pretty bad indeed.
Alabama, very good school. Be glad you graduate in a few years as opposed to now. Hopefully, the legal market will turn around by the time you graduate. That being said, grades are paramount in law school, and play a bigger part in your legal career than you can ever imagine. Good luck in law school.
